24 



STRUCTURE OF VESSELS. 



the required bends, they will fall upon methods of 

 fixing the plants in the most suitable position, bet- 

 ter adapted to the locality than any directions can 

 teach. The plants will require to be fixed down at 

 least two years, and bent a little more than what is 

 requisite, as in their after-growth they have gene- 

 rally a tendency to become straighter, from deposit- 

 ing the thickest layers in the hollow of the bend. 

 A fine regular curve may be obtained by bending the 

 plant for several successive years, a little lower every 

 year ; this gradual lowering does not so much check 

 the growth of the leader, nor tend so much to cause 

 the feeders upon the upper side to push as leaders. 

 When oaks are bent, great attention must be paid 

 to cut away any ground-shoots, and to cut off or 

 twist down any strong feeders that stand perpendi- 

 cular on the upper side of the tree ; and also for se- 

 veral years afterwards, to look over the trees twice 

 a-year, correcting any exuberant feeder, and destroy- 

 ing root- shoots. The forester ought to keep in mind 

 that his pupils are proverbially pliant, and that, 

 should his growing timber not be of the most valu- 

 able and most appropriate figure, he must rank ei- 

 ther with the negligent or the incapable. 



Ship timbers being generally required of greater 

 depth than thickness, that is, broadest in the plane 



